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Later, as we’re warming up before our game against South West, Charlie walks past with some of her team mates and true to form, she ignores me. Maybe she’s just taking this not fraternising with the opposition more seriously than I thought after I caught her with Ashley this morning. I’m still smarting from my dismissal to Paris, but I shrug off Charlie ignoring me and concentrate on my warm-up.
When I get back to my bag, I have a text from Mum telling me they’re at the grounds. I’ll have to remember to tell Charlie they’re coming. She hasn’t met Nan yet, but has been wanting to. I glance over at the stands, but can’t see them in the crowd. More and more people have come to watch the games over the last few days, and the stands are almost full this afternoon.
I shove my phone back into my bag, and push down the nerves which have surfaced again and get ready for the game.
South West have been hot and cold in their first couple of games, and although they haven’t had any stand-out performers, the team has been solid enough.
They won’t be easy to beat, but Karen says they look prone to collapsing if we get early wickets and restrict them. When we go out to field first, that’s our aim. We do it extremely well. Ashley comes on early to bowl her overs out and although she gets just one wicket, she only goes for fifteen runs. Our fast bowlers do most of the damage but our aggressive fielding restricts them to 98 runs.
Karen leaves me at first drop which I’m relieved about. There aren’t enough runs to chase for me to get a big score, but I can really have a go at getting them quickly and make up for my less-than-stellar innings this morning.
When I get my chance, it only takes me a couple of balls to get going against the fast bowlers before I start sending them to the fence. Charlie’s been unusually quiet behind the stumps, and when I mention it to her in between overs, she just shrugs and says she’s trying to concentrate. I just figure she’s disappointed with how her team has played so far, so I let her be. If she’s not ribbing me, then it lets me concentrate on what I’m doing too.
Before long, I’m 24 runs from 13 balls, and then South West bring on their spinner. It slows me down a bit but I manage to knock them around for singles. When we have a drinks break, I glance over to the stands and search for Mum and Nan. I spot them in the crowd and they wave. Old George is there, and the two Phils as well as some of Nan’s other friends from the nursing home. Beside the stand, standing with her arms crossed watching the game, is Paris. She’s probably trying to put me off again. I decide to give her something to watch.
I hit the first two balls of the eighth over for fours, and then decide that no matter what the next ball is, I’m going to hit it hard and see if I can get it over the fence. We’re closing in on the total pretty quickly and it would be great to finish it off in the next few overs. Featuring in the batting highlights again would also be a bonus.
The spinner re-sets her field and I hear Charlie for the first time behind me directing fielders to positions. There’s a huge gap straight down the ground and I decide that’s where the ball is going to go.
The spinner drops it short, which means I have to take a big step down the wicket to get to it. I swing through hard, and lift my head to where I’m expecting the ball to be, but it’s not there. I’ve completely missed it. Before I can even turn back around, Charlie’s whipped off the bails and is celebrating madly. We lock eyes as I walk past her back to my bench and she grins and shrugs and goes back to celebrating with her team.
I toss my bat and helmet onto my bag and drop onto the seat. Karen pats me on the shoulder. “Solid innings, Alice. Just lost your head there for a bit.”
I just nod in reply. When I look over to the stands, Paris is gone. I turn my attention back to the game and watch, arms crossed, as my team mates score the winning runs.